Five Tips for Making Small Business Saturday a Success

Small Business Saturday is scheduled for November 24^th this year.  The annual event saw a large turnout last year.  According to American Express, “Over one hundred million people came together to Shop Small in their communities on Small Business Saturday.”   This year’s event is likely to be even more successful thanks to additional advertising.

If you’re a small business owner looking to capitalize on the extra publicity gained from Small Business Saturday, here are five tips that will help guide you along the way:

Take advantage of free advertising from American Express – Create a free personalized ad here and the credit card company “will give you free geo-targeted online advertising that drives to your website or Facebook page.”  The offer is only good through November 19^th and terms and conditions do apply.  Refer to American Express’ website for more information.

Download marketing tools and use them to attract customers and drive business this November 24^th – Personalize signage and make use of online banners and logos as well as social media and email templates.  All materials are free.  Visit http://www.shopsmall.com to claim yours.

Get listed in Independent We Stand’s directory of small businesses – The basic package lists your business name, address, and phone number for free and gives you access to “Buy Local” marketing materials.  For $99 a year, you get a website link back from IWS.org, links to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, and a larger, more prominent listing.

Open later to accommodate Black Friday shoppers – Many shoppers like to avoid crowds so they prefer to visit stores that are open later in the evening.  Make sure you let people know that you’ve changed your hours for Small Business Saturday or you’ll have people lining up at the door at the same time you’re usually open.

Make your customers feel welcome and appreciated – Offer them some sort of incentive to shop your business rather than the big box retailers.  Serve refreshments, get a local musician to play a few songs, and hand out goody bags.  Do something to make yourself memorable so that people will want to shop your small business year after year.

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